Delbridge Langdon Jr. | The Grand Rapids PressBlake Smolen, right, was among four Grand Valley State receivers who caught a scoring pass against Saginaw Valley State.

ALLENDALE -- The Grand Valley State football team earned an "A-minus" with a 38-7 win against Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference rival Saginaw Valley State on Saturday at Lubbers Stadium.

So much for the "rivals," who made claims before the game about being at Grand Valley's level.

Oops.

SVSU was thumped hard early and often in this one.

Here's the bad news for the rest of the GLIAC: The Lakers have room to improve in several areas.

Offense
Grand Valley coach Chuck Martin insists the Lakers are building into a good team but aren't there yet. He points to an inconsistent rushing game, which hasn't looked as crisp as last year.

Martin, of course, predicted this before the season when he noted that the front seven was retooled.

On Monday, he said the Lakers are missing blocks on too many plays.

"It's not there yet, but it will get there," Martin said.

It hasn't helped that tight end Tony Carreri was lost for the season in week 2 at Indianapolis because of a knee injury.

The Lakers, though, have rushed for 429 yards, an average of 143 per game, and are averaging 277 yards per game through the air.

Quarterback Brad Iciek had a big game with five touchdown passes Saturday and was his usual accurate self (18-of-27).

Also, four receivers caught scoring passes, and Blake Smolen held on to the ball, once in dramatic fashion when he was popped in the end zone.

The offense only will get better as players get used to being together.

Defense
Losing starting cornerback Robert Carlisle to a broken leg is significant, but the Lakers have depth -- if not experience -- in the defensive backfield.

"We may end up trying a lot of guys there, but we will find some who can do the job," Martin said.

Carlisle had two interceptions before leaving the game. The Lakers have forced eight turnovers and collected seven sacks in three games.

"The best thing is that we're doing the job and flying around the field to make plays," Martin said.

The defense gave up some rushing yards (170) against Saginaw Valley but only one sustained drive.

Poise also was on display Saturday. Some early flags for chippy play could have made the Lakers lose their cool, but they maintained and played through the cheap stuff to dominate.

Special teams
Kicker and punter Justin Trumble showed little rust even though he missed some practice time early last week with a groin pull. His punt and kickoff numbers were solid, and he booted a 21-yard field goal for the first Grand Valley score.

Kickoff coverage appeared to improve from the first two weeks as well.

Special teams simply need to stay in tune to keep the team ready for any close games that might happen..

Looking ahead
Grand Valley travels to Ferris State for a 7 p.m. game Saturdayt. Ferris, which was rolled 43-7 by unbeaten Findlay over the weekend, is 1-2.

The Bulldogs serve as the "local" rival for GVSU, although they haven't topped the Lakers since 1999. Ferris did give GVSU a brief struggle a year ago before losing 31-13.